Monday, September 10, 2012

The Church Year and the Lectionary Commentary – 24th Ordinary (Day 1)

Proverbs 1:20-33
20 Wisdom shouts in the street;
in the public square she raises her voice.
21 Above the noisy crowd, she calls out.
At the entrances of the city gates, she has her say:
22 “How long will you clueless people love your naïveté,
mockers hold their mocking dear,
and fools hate knowledge?
23 You should respond when I correct you.
Look, I’ll pour out my spirit on you.
I’ll reveal my words to you.
24 I invited you, but you rejected me;
I stretched out my hand to you,
but you paid no attention.
25 You ignored all my advice,
and you didn’t want me to correct you.
26 So I’ll laugh at your disaster;
I’ll make fun of you when dread comes over you,
27 when terror hits you like a hurricane,
and your disaster comes in like a tornado,
when distress and oppression overcome you.
28 Then they will call me, but I won’t answer;
they will seek me, but won’t find me
29 because they hated knowledge
and didn’t choose the fear of the LORD.
30 They didn’t want my advice;
they rejected all my corrections.
31 They will eat from the fruit of their way,
and they’ll be full of their own schemes.
32 The immature will die because they turn away;
smugness will destroy fools.
33 Those who obey me will dwell securely,
untroubled by the dread of harm.”

To confuse discipline or correction with punishment is a crucial error. The former we cannot live without, the latter will destroy us. Discipline or correction we can embrace, punishment we flee. One comes from love, the other from some other, malignant, motive.

To flee punishment is a survival instinct; to flee discipline/correction is the epitome of foolishness.

“Don’t reject the instruction of the LORD, my son;
don’t despise his correction.
The LORD loves those he corrects,
just like a father who treats his son with favor.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)